A Couple on the Job
by PrincetonNurse
Summary: It's House and Cuddy's first day back to the hospital as a couple, but House is sick and he tries to push through the day.


Re-uploaded and edited so it is easier to read and follow.

This takes place during Selfish s7e2. I own nothing, House belongs to David Shore and Fox.

Cuddy closed the door of her Lexus in the parking garage of the hospital searching through her purse to make sure she had everything. This was the first time she was nervous about coming to work since her first day after graduating med school. Today was special, today was the first day that the hospital staff will have their long-time gossip confirmed that she loves House and is in fact dating him. But before the staff can know, human resources have to know. Cuddy is a perfectionist and likes to follow hospital policy to the letter, her boyfriend, does not follow policies well.

 _Opposites attract_ Cuddy thought to herself as she entered the elevator.

The doors opened as she arrived at the hospital's first floor ready to start the day. Big surprise, her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen, he hasn't even clocked in yet. At first, she was disappointed and wanted to discuss with him to not spill the beans about their relationship before they could have their meeting; but she then realized House coming to the hospital before 9:00am is pretty suspicious and, if anything, House was doing her a favor. Cuddy decided to give House a break, she was sure he was just as nervous as she was and probably wanted everyone to think it's just a normal Monday. She decided to give him until noon, then she'd get mad.

[H]

House's alarm went off blaring at 7:00am sharp. He devised a plan last night to surprise Cuddy. He was not only going to be on time to work, but meet her in the parking lot before they made their grand debut together in the hospital. He thought being in the parking lot would give them some discrete time for to talk about their plan for the day and maybe, if he was lucky, fit in some other stuff too. However, when the alarm went off he regretted the decision he made last night immediately. The alarm did not get him out of bed, the sudden and desperate need to vomit made him quickly get up and go to the toilet as fast as his bum leg would let him. He regurgitated everything he ate yesterday.

 _Great, being sick is exactly what I need at a time like this_ he thought to himself.

The diagnostician thought through yesterday to determine a cause of his sudden ailment. Nothing really out of the ordinary he hung out with Cuddy all day, had sex and after Cuddy left he ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, watched some TV, and got in bed. He couldn't think of anything that would cause this until he remembered he hadn't been to the store in a while and the bread he ate was stale. He quickly determined food poisoning as the culprit and decided hydration and rest would be what he needs. The plan to meet Cuddy early would have to fall through but at least it wouldn't give the hospital any gossip about their relationship. He drank some water, reset the alarm for 10:00am and got back in bed. He would be at the hospital by 11:00am.

House awoke yet again to his alarm annoyed to find he was not better but in fact worse, much worse. He was too weak to make it to the toilet and vomited pure bile from his stomach, the yellowish mucus hitting the floor and edge of his bed. His head was killing him but even worse was his leg. House quickly made a list of symptoms in his head to determine the cause. Fever, headache, myalgia, nausea, dehydration, and excessive vomiting. Great. Everything was pointing to a bad stomach flu. Fever would cause the headache, nausea causes vomiting which causes dehydration which is why he has muscle pain. Wonderful. A perfect way to start the day. Although House usually is a man who finds any way possible to skip work when he truly is sick he always tries to push through, he may not be able to be physically tough, in his eyes, but he sure as shit can be mentally tough. He got out of bed but even his slow rise was too much for him and sent his head spinning. After adjusting to the standing position, he put on a fresh T-shirt, his button down, a blazer, jeans, socks and Nike sneakers. He was still freezing, he grabbed a sweatshirt from the closet and put it over his button down but under his blazer. He looked ridiculous but at least he wasn't shivering. He grabbed his helmet and keys and left for work.

[H]

Cuddy was continuously looking up from her desk, she's been doing it since she sat down, she didn't want to miss her tall, sexy, boyfriend limping in. She wanted to catch him before he opened his mouth about their relationship and maybe give him a hug if he came in her office. When he finally came into the lobby at 10:54 Cuddy was by the nurses station a made a b line to him, she was shocked when she saw him. His limp was more pronounced and he was leaning on his cane heavily, his hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat, it looked like he just showered, and his eyelids were red, just like how he looked when he was detoxing. She went over to greet him and he smiled at her,

"why doctor Cuddy, how was your weekend?" He asked with a wink trying his hardest to be funny and play off his obviously sick appearance.

"House, you look terrible! Are you feeling okay?" Cuddy asked knowing he would deny the fact that he is obviously sick.

"Never better" he lied.

Between his head, his leg, the nausea and his fever he felt like at any moment he could faint or vomit, maybe both.

"Got a case for me?" he asked.

Cuddy sighed she knew how stubborn House was, she didn't want to make a scene; she told herself he was about to go into an office with three overqualified doctors who would keep her up to date on his condition so she decided to let it go. It's not like he'd be visiting any patients, it was hard enough to get him to do that when he was healthy.

"Yes actually, 14-year-old girl EMTs think her heart stopped-"

"sounds great." House interrupted her.

She could tell he was in no mood to continue standing. "Also, we have a meeting with HR to discuss… yesterday" Cuddy said trying to be discrete in the lobby.

House just nodded took the file and headed to the elevators. As House limped out of site she pulled out her phone and texted Wilson, "House is heading up now keep an eye on him and bring Advil."

[H]

Wilson, Taub, Forman and Chase are all sitting around the diagnostics table. As House limped heavily into the room all eyes were on him. Wilson was surprised House could dress more casual for work than normal noting the grey sweatshirt under his blazer. Cuddy was right he did look terrible!

House threw down the file in front of the team as he sat down "14-year-old girl with heart arrhythmia." He said and then proceeded to lay his head down on the diagnostics table enjoying the cool glass on his burning forehead. His leg thanked him for getting off his feet and the position allowed him to massage his thigh.

Everyone stared blankly for a moment not sure what to do, but Chase decided to push forward.

"EKG, echo and head CT were normal and nothing appears to be on her neurological exam."

No response.

Forman and Taub were both surprised that House had not noticed 13's absence and Wilson was surprised he didn't make some dumb comment about him being there. After a moment of not knowing whether to continue the diagnosis Foreman broke the ice, "you must be pretty out of it to not care about 13."

"Yeah, it's so weird of me not to care." House mumbled sarcastically not lifting his head from the table.

"Patient's brother has congenital muscular dystrophy. Life expectancy of 25 she could have a latten case of it." Chase said.

"Wouldn't be sudden onset" Taub retorted.

"If it's Long QT Syndrome anything in that skatepark could have triggered an arrhythmia" Foreman said.

No response from House, the doctors all share a glance, "we should scare the patient to death to confirm Long QT, we need to recreate real world conditions!" Taub said only half serious, his main goal was to get a reaction out of House.

A thumbs up was House's only response. The doctors all exchange looks once again starting to get worried about House's declining energy. Wilson gives them a shooing motion with his hand so he can talk to House alone.

Chase, Foreman and Taub left the room and regrouped in the hallway in front of the elevators. "If we are going to do this we will need confirmation from Cuddy and I'm assuming House is not going to ask since he can't even lift up his head" Taub said.

Chase nodded in agreement. "I'll talk to Cuddy you and Foreman think of something to scare the patient with."

Chase noticed that Foreman was still looking at his boss and Wilson through the glass. "Don't worry, Wilson will make sure House is okay," he said before heading to Cuddy's office.

Wilson looked at House, "So. You're looking… well." Wilson said his mind was racing for a way to get House to talk to him so he could figure this out.

When House didn't respond and continued to rest his head on the table Wilson decided to be more direct. "What are your symptoms? Besides the obvious fever and leg pain."

This got a response from House as he lifted his head up slowly, to glare at him he regretted it as it made the room spin and cause him to be nauseous but he stood by his choice.

"Please, don't think I didn't notice you massaging your leg throughout the whole diagnosis and the sweat that is coming off your hair and pooling on the table could not be more obvious, if you really want to fool me don't wear a sweatshirt you'll sweat a lot less."

"I have put on some weight, I heard sweating out water weight helps, it's not like I can exercise" House rasped he could feel his throat burning with each word.

The lie was pathetic to say the least, even for a six-year-old it was lame. For one, House is in incredible shape, House knew if he lied it would not be very convincing but he did it anyway why? Because he couldn't think, he felt like his body was shutting down, though he would never admit it. His brain was slower, he honestly had trouble paying attention to all the symptoms and results Chase was sharing.

Wilson shook his head and pulled some aspirin and anti-nausea meds out of his pocket. Take these he said as he put them on the table in front of him and moved to get a glass of water. House was surprised Wilson had those in his pocket he never carries meds around, Cuddy must have told him something. House didn't want to think about it though he was just grateful the pain in his head, leg and stomach would subside and he wouldn't feel the need to vomit every minute.

"I'll be in my office if you need me."

"yeah thanks, mom" House said as Wilson walked out the door.

House knew something was wrong, he felt sunburned, and his head was pounding he wanted to tell his heart to relax. He needed to lie down on his side in case he threw up again. The Eames Chair in his office was the perfect place to rest but the problem was getting there. His leg screamed at him with a pain he hasn't had since Mayfield, his wouldn't focus on anything without spiraling, his stomach was churning and sending waves of nausea, not to mention he could tell he had a fever and high one. Using all his energy he stood up relying on the diagnostics chair and cane to take most of the weight. Once the room stopped spinning, he tried walking. Every step sent waves of pain from his thigh to his head begging him to stop, but he made it to his chair. House propped up his leg and situated himself so if he vomited in his sleep he wouldn't aspirate and waited for the aspirin to kick in.

[H]

Chase entered Cuddy's office and she looked up from her desk. She was disappointed it wasn't House but it quickly turned to worry, what if he was coming to tell her House was in bad shape? She had been dating him not 24 hours! But she remained calm and reminded herself not to overreact. Chase explained that their diagnosis was Long QT and they needed to scare the patient to death.

"Absolutely not!" Cuddy said, at least House coming up with insane ideas shows that he is not as sick as she thought, "The patient is nowhere near sick enough to justify the risks, an angiogram and an E.P. are much safer and effective. Tell House to save his crazy bullshit for when the patient is on the verge of death."

"Oh, it wasn't House's idea." Cuddy was shocked and looked at him questioningly, "it was Taub's. House didn't say anything about it just gave a thumbs up, he has been really out of it."

Cuddy nodded and with that Chase turned to leave. Cuddy was dumbstruck, House was really declining, from what Chase told her House was in worse shape than when she saw him an hour ago and that was not good. It was 12:00 and her meeting with HR was at 1:00 she decided to stop by House's office to check on him before they had their meeting. His employees would be running tests so she could have him all to herself.

House was in the fetal position one arm clenched tightly around his abdomen refusing to let go while the other was methodically massaging his leg.

 _When will the damn meds kick in?_ He thought.

He heard the door open, it was Cuddy. "House?" she asked softly.

 _Fuck. The HR meeting_ House thought.

He did not want to make Cuddy's day more complicated, she finally admitted she loved him and he did not want to screw this up. But he didn't have the energy to make a joke much less have a boring meeting with HR. His love for Cuddy and desire to do right by her he decided to turn around and face the door trying his best to pretend he was okay. He was scared to go to HR since he used all of his remaining energy to get here. His eyes were red, his face even more sweaty than this morning, if that were possible and his arm refused to move away from his abdomen.

"Ready for HR?" He asked.

Cuddy was shocked at how resilient he was being. "It's not for another hour, I came to check on you, although you won't admit it I think you're sick. Really sick. Maybe I give you a ride home and we have our meeting tomorrow." Cuddy stated more than asked.

"I'm fi-" House was unable to finish his sentence, his body refused to let him carry on the lie any longer, he curled up turning his head toward his desk and vomited a large amount of bile getting it all over the floor, and himself.

She stepped back quickly and attempted to rub his back as he purged. She was not prepared as House's head came back up suddenly and then immediately went back down resting on his chest. He fainted. Cuddy frantically called Wilson with her cellphone as she began addressing House's vitals, it couldn't be good if he fainted while practically laying down!

"Get a BP cuff, a stethoscope, and a thermometer!" she yelled at Wilson and hung up the phone.

No need to give him the destination, Wilson knew it was House. She checked his pulse, it was there but weak, relieved she didn't have to do CPR, she searched his head for any signs of injury and was determined that there were none. House was starting to come to from his fainting episode when Wilson came rushing in with the supplies. Cuddy took his temperature as Wilson addressed his blood pressure.

"Oh god" Cuddy whispered as the numbers on the thermometer read 104.9.

"WE NEED COOLING BLANKETS! GET A STRETCHER AND HOUSE'S TEAM" Cuddy continued yelling orders as she ran out of the office to get everything she needed to admit him.

A nurse came rushing in with cooling blankets and ice packs. She put one on his forehead and began cutting open House's clothes so she could place the ice packs under his armpits, chest and groin, she draped a hospital gown over him to cover up his boxers. When Cuddy came back there was a gurney and House's team ready to help transfer. He was awake but clearly confused as to what was going on unsure about who was who.

Wilson looked at Cuddy. "It's not good, his blood pressure is 70/50." He said, an extremely low value and undoubtedly the reason House fainted.

"We have to transfer him to the gurney!" Chase said, "One, two, three!"

They lifted him up and placed him on the bed rushing to get him to a room. Wilson was hanging saline to combat the dehydration and the low BP, Chase was hooking him up to the monitors and attaching the BP cuff so they could monitor his vitals closely, Foreman was making sure the cooling blankets and ice packs were in the proper position and Taub was trying to figure out what happened so he could make a diagnosis. It was not going well, House was incredibly confused and not making much sense at one point he asked for Stacy and demanded they leave his leg alone. He was delirious. Cuddy didn't care about people finding out if they were dating, she held his hand tight and was right by his bed she was stroking his hair and trying to let him know she was there.

"Okay so what do we have besides the obvious fever?" Taub tried asking again.

"he has been vomiting, I assume a lot since when he threw up in his office it was all bile." Cuddy said.

"Don't forget low BP and myalgia!" Wilson chimed in.

Taub was writing it down in House's chart. "When did he last urinate?" Taub asked.

A simple question but unfortunately the only person who knew the answer was experiencing confusion and difficulty concentrating.

"I know he peed last night, maybe 9:00pm?" Everyone went silent and stared at Cuddy.

"Wait, how did you kn-"

Wilson was cut off by Cuddy getting everyone back on track, "I don't know if he has peed since then, why?"

Taub hesitated "… we need to determine how dehydrated he is and if his kidneys are having trouble"

"Yester" House slurred and mumbled.

"Yesterday?" Cuddy repeated shocked.

"looks like his kidneys are failing" Foreman said, "we can start him on dialysis to help the kidney's out"

"Think, is there anything else that could be useful here?" Taub asked.

"Sounds to me like Staphylococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome." Chase said.

The room went quiet and all eyes were on Chase.

"You're insane!" Taub broke the silence "You're suggesting he has a disease that is incredibly rare in females and practically nonexistent in males?"

"organ failure, hypertension, vomiting, red eyes, headaches, myalgia, confusion and sudden high fever. This is textbook!"

Taub shook his head, "he never complained of headaches, no rash and he hasn't had any seizures!"

"yet," chase said affirmatively, "when does House ever complain about anything? And the seizures will come if we delay treatment, this is serious if we don't treat now he could die."

"It's toxic shock." Cuddy said firmly.

"Oh, did House not change his tampon?" Taub said condescendingly still refusing to accept such a ludicrous diagnosis.

"When we were at the crane collapse three days ago he cut his shoulder really bad, he needed stiches. Staphylococcal was probably crawling on everything at the crane site! It could have easily entered through his cut and wreaked havoc on his body. With the short incubation period this disease has it fits!"

Taub thought about it realizing he could be wrong, "still it's a long shot." He muttered.

"Not necessarily," Wilson said, "I'm no diagnostician but if I remember correctly we determine if a patient has toxic shock by ruling out Rickettsia, Leptospirosis and Measles but House is declining fast so we better hurry!"

Chase Foreman and Taub grabbed the samples they needed from House and began testing.

Cuddy began to cry, clenching House's hand tight. Wilson was a little surprised, she looked up at him there was a silence that seemed to last forever and Wilson could barely hear what Cuddy said over the machines and monitors.

"He wasn't lying." She said.

Wilson was still confused.

"Yesterday when he told you he was dating me, he told you the truth. I hid in his closet because I didn't want him to feel pressured to tell you."

Wilson sighed he didn't know what to say, "I'm happy for you two." Was all he could come up with.

Cuddy let out a small chuckle, "yeah, not exactly the way I wanted you to find out." Cuddy paused for a moment, "he's going to die, isn't he?"

Tears began to form in her eyes again, Wilson was shocked at the question, Cuddy was not one to be so negative but she continued to speak,

"If it is toxic shock, and I'm sure it is, it's fatal within a few hours. House has been sick since this morning. It's simple math."

Wilson has never heard Cuddy's voice take on such a depressed tone.

"Until House changes it to you, I am his medical proxy, I say I prescribe him antibiotics to get rid of the bacteria and begin the treatment. We will clean his wound and keep him on dialysis, fluids and oxygen until he recovers."

Cuddy was grateful to have Wilson, he was going to save House's life and she nodded for him to go and begin the treatment.

[H]

It was two days later when House came to. All he heard were the continuous beeps of the monitors and the sound of the dialysis machine. His first reaction was to feel his leg, for a moment he felt like he was back in the hospital with his infarction. He was happy to feel his leg was still there, scar and all. He scanned his surroundings and saw Cuddy holding his hand, she was asleep and curled up in a chair next to him. Her shoes were on the floor and her face was pressed against his hand, cuddling with the only part of him she could hold. The scattered memories of his first day back started to fall into place.

"I guess I was wrong about it being a stomach bug." He said,

Cuddy looked up from her lap so relieved to hear his voice, she kissed him on the cheek and pushed his hair aside. House scooted over so she had room to cuddle up next to him. Cuddy didn't let go of his hand and she crawled into bed and felt safe as he wrapped on arm around her she laid on his shoulder with her arm on his chest.

"People are going to talk" House commented.

"let them." Cuddy shrugged and House kissed her forehead before they fell asleep.


End file.
